


Bended Edge

by Chelidona (Hobbity)



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Dwalin is a strongman, Fifth Age, M/M, Modern Middle Earth, Nori is a little punk, They are still dwarves and elves, Vegan AU, Very self-indulgent vegan AU actually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 08:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14445777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbity/pseuds/Chelidona
Summary: Nori is reluctant to attend the annual Erebor Strongman ... until he sees Dwalin, competitor in the games, just as beefy as Nori likes them, and of course a vegan which pisses Dori off. Perfect.





	Bended Edge

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this first chapter a while ago, I meant to only publish it once I got the second, but as I am very busy right now, and won't have time to publish anything again until Mid-May or so, I wanted to indulge myself by posting something.  
> My first Nwalin.  
> Also, I have no idea anymore why Nori's best friends are Bain and Rúmil. Obviously Bain is way older here than he was in the films.

The annual Erebor Strongman competition always drew large crowds. It had been a long time since the competition was held within the halls of the mountain. These days, they were held on the fields between Dale and Erebor, drawing dwarves from all over Middle Earth, men and elves.

And this year, the year 2515 of the fourth age, it promised to be another huge success. The weather was favourable - it was early May, the sun providing warmth but no sweltering heat, and there was a light breeze coming from the mountain, mingling the scents of the hot dog vendors, the coffee vans, the corn on the cob sellers, the crepe stalls and many more stalls. The most popular, as in most years, was Hurin’s Meat Market, selling humongous skewers of charred meat.

Dori and Ori were queuing to get their meat on sticks, while Nori kept to his greasy chips.

He wandered off in search of his friends. While Dori might be able to and eager to drag Nori to this event every year, he was not actually that set on being seen with his rebel brother. Nori had dyed his hair bright blue at the moment and topped it off by wearing torn, skinny jeans and a t-shirt that proudly proclaimed “No smoking, no alcohol, no drugs.”

He found Bain soon enough near the drink stall where they met every year. Or rather he spotted Rumil who was next to Bain. Nobody here attracted quite as much attention as the tall elf with colourful spiky hair and a custom made hoodie that announced, in blood red letters “Vegan straight edge since the third age”. His pointy ears were adorned with a row of silver earrings. And with the typical aloofness of elves, he seemed to be wholly ignorant of the stares he attracted. Instead, he inclined his head when Nori approached.

“Chips? Really?” he teased, and tutted when Bain stole a few from Nori. Nori flipped Rumil off.

“Yes, chips, with loads of salt and vinegar. You can keep that vile green stuff to yourself.”

“Kale crisps,” Rumil said happily, munching on the green aberration. “Much healthier my friend.”

Both Bain and Nori rolled their eyes, but did not comment. Rumil and Bain had already bought their juice and Nori had nicked some soft drinks earlier.

Bain was here every year anyway, on account of being descended from the ancient lines of kings of Dale. These days, Bain’s father Bard took very reluctantly part in some ceremonies, including opening the Erebor Strongman in a show of friendship between Dale and Erebor.

Which was also why Bain was dressed formally, rather than his usual casual wear.

Rumil had come along with the remark that while shows of brute strength bored him, he was all about supporting friends. The elf could be a git sometimes.

Before they could look for seats, Bain’s sister Sigrid called to let her brother know they kept three seats. Sigrid was a sweet girl, outwardly the perfect princess for any ceremonial role needed, but occasionally she had a sneak rebellious streak.

Such as reserving seats for a punk dwarf and a punk elf in the middle of the stands, just a few feet to the right of the little platform where King Thorin, Prince consort Bilbo, Crown Prince Fili (Prince Kili was in the Blue Mountains) sat, who had come all the way from Moria. With them were Bard himself, minor royalty from the other dwarf clans and a very sour looking king Thranduil of the Woodland realm along with his unreadable son Legolas.

Dori would lose his shit if he saw a picture the next day which showed Nori, in all his undwarfish glory, sitting close to royalty.

All that was forgotten when the competitors marched in.

Nori would not admit it to anyone, but he really did appreciate beefy dwarves. It was his most dwarfish threat and one he carefully hid from his friends.

“Does that guy’s shirt say ‘plant powered’?” whispered Rumil to Bain, right above Nori’s head.

Nori looked more closely. And yes, the shirt that Dwalin, cousin of the king, was wearing said in bold green letters “Plant-Powered.”

Another vegan dwarf?

Mesmerized, Nori watched Dwalin throw boulders and logs, do the yoke walk, and generally outshine all competitors.

And all plant powered. He texted Dori in the break asking him if he noticed that the dwarf who was currently in second place was a vegan.

Rather predictably, he received no answer. Dori was probably looking for camomile tea somewhere to calm his nerves. As if that was particularly dwarfish.

They all made some fun of the traditional dancers during the lunch break and went back to their prime places for the afternoon competitions.

Which saw Dwalin, they finally caught the name of the vegan competitor, take the lead. He had mastered the fronthold and the wheel barrow race. And despite this exertion he excelled in the most dwarfish of the disciplines - splitting rocks with pickaxes. He had marched to the competition, his two axes stripped to his back and wearing a determined scowl that made Nori glad he was sitting down, his knees had just been rudely turned to jelly. And then Dwalin split the locks as if they were glass.

Nori was collected enough to snap plenty of pictures when Thorin presented Dwalin with his trophy. A lot of those pictures were centered on that beautiful arse.

**

After the competition, he had hoped to head of with Rumil to their favourite bar, but Sigrid appeared again, an angelic vision in white, and told Bain he was very welcome to bring his friends along to the big tent were “everybody” would have drinks.

“I haven’t annoyed Legolas for near a century,” Rumil declared, and steered Nori after Sigrid.

There were some startled looks when they entered, particularly from the dwarves. Nori thought he saw king Thorin purse his lips when he saw Nori, but Nori ignored the king in favour of securing himself some food.

He was grateful the elves were invited, so there was some vegan nibbles he could dig into; the usual dwarven fare at such events were meatballs and cheese on sticks. Nori would eat the decorative tomatoes and lettuce leaves. Of course, the offer here was a bit healthier than he usually preferred, but he still loaded his pockets with grapes, nuts and crackers, and then took a few falafels and crackers to munch on.

He then looked for Rumil who had zoomed towards prince Legolas. From what little he knew about elves, it looked as if Legolas was actually pleased to see Rumil.

Just as he wanted to go and join his friend, and be introduced to a prince incidentally, a deep voice below him grumbled: “A vegan dwarf.”

He whirled around, ready to defend himself yet again, but the words died on his pierced tongue.

Dwalin stood next to him, the “plant powered” t-shirts stretched tightly across his chest, his bald tattooed head glistening. And, invisibly, pheromones were dancing in the air around him.

“Yes,” he finally said, with something he hoped approached a sneer. “Like yourself then.”

“Indeed.” Dwalin nodded towards king Thorin. “My cousin does not know if he is pleased I won or if he should disprove.”

Nori laughed. “I know my brother disapproves. No offence, but I am going to whip out the pic of you getting the trophy whenever he says veganism is undwarfish.”

“Be my guest.” Dwalin smiled a little, making him appear much softer. “That is why I am wearing that t-shirt, to encourage young dwarves to take the step towards veganism.”

“Well,” Nori gestured at his shirt. “I already did. And made undwarfish friends while I was at it.” He was gesturing at Rumil, who was still in conversation with Legolas. Dwalin’s smile grew.

“Not your typical tree shagger.”

“It gets boring after a couple of thousand years apparently.”

“I can believe that.” Dwalin rubbed his head.

Just as Nori was building up his confidence to actually flirt with that wet dream, Rumil came sauntering over with Legolas in tow.

“Congratulations on your win.” Rumil put his slight hand on Dwalin’s massive shoulder. “Who knew dwarves don’t need meat for their beefiness.”

Legolas smiled, his head slightly inclined as he looked over Dwalin and then Nori. “Even after thousands of years, we can still be surprised.”

Dwalin lifted his eyebrows. “We amuse you?”

Rumil shrugged. “What is the point if you can’t have a laugh.”

“True.” Dwalin nodded, then looked at Nori. “I’m knackered, and I need to play nice with my cousin and the dignitaries now. Are you going to the Vegfest in Esgaroth.”

“Naturally.”

“I just confirmed with them that I will have a talk there, about veganism and strength training. Let’s chat more about being a vegan dwarf there.”

“Sure.”

Nori gave Dwalin what he hoped was an enticing smile. If it was up to him, they would do a whole lot more than chat. He needed to book a single room, instead of sharing with Bain and Rumil as planned.

He started when Rumil shoved him.

“Let’s go, time to dream about beefy dwarves later.”

“Go? Where?”

“Legsy and me, and Bain if we can free him, are going to walk around a little. You know, take in the sights.”

“That you’ve seen thousands of times already.”

“The dwarf games are not that old,” Legolas said calmly.

In a rare dwarfish moment, Nori scoffed. “Or maybe you did not know about them.”

A small smile played around Legolas’ lips, but he said nothing.

Taking a last good look at Dwalin’s king as he spoke with his king and cousin, Nori followed his friends out of the VIP tent.

And as soon as they had rounded a corner, Nori’s name was called. His baby brother Ori was sitting on a bench, the half eaten remains of what seemed to be a mess of sauerkraut and sausage in front of him.

“Let’s go tease Ori!” Rumil suggested.

Nori glared at him. Mocking his little brother was his privilege.

“Leave him alone,” he grumbled, but he strolled over to where Ori sat.

Legolas slowed as they approached.

“Who is that with your brother?” he whispered.

“That is Gimli, he’s our neighbour and used to take care of Ori.”

Rumil stopped and looked over to the dwarf, who was staring at them now.

“There is quite a resemblance, isn’t there.”

“Yes.” Legolas stared at Gimli. “Yes. There is.”

“Resemblance to …” Nori trailed of, looking at Bain.

It was so easy to forget how old elves actually were. Legolas had been part of the legendary fellowship of the ring, along with Gimli, a dwarf from Erebor.

“Is it true that you sailed West with Gimli?” Nori asked in a hushed voice.

“Yes.” Legolas whispered. “Yes I did.”

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Rumil suggested in a rare display of tact.

Nori suddenly remembered that his cheeky friend had been a warrior a few thousands year ago, fighting against the legendary orcs.

“No.” Legolas straightened almost imperceptibly and continued walking. “We already drew attention.”

Ori looked up at his big, scary brother with hunched shoulders.

“Is everything all right?”

“Sure it is. Mind if we join you for a drink?”

“No.” Ori began to smile. “So what did you think, Nori? Did you see the t-shirt of that guy Dwalin? The one who won?”

“It was hard to miss.”

“Yes, he is so broad!”

Gimli nodded gruffly. “I can’t believe that dwarf does not eat meat. What kind of dwarf does not eat meat?”

“A dwarf who wins the Erebor strongman. And me.” Nori sat down next to Ori, forcing his brother to scoot away slightly. “Gimli, those are prince Legolas of the woodland realm, a vegan for several thousands years I believe, and Rumil, vegan for several thousands years, and Bain.”

Bain grimaced. “Also a vegan, for 2 years since this is how we introduce ourselves now apparently. And apparently I’m the one who’ll get the drinks,” he added when the elves sat down too.

“Good boy.” Rumil handed some money to his young friend.

“Prince Legolas?” Gimli looked up at the elf who was sitting next to him. “THE prince Legolas?”

“There is no other.” Legolas looked down at Gimli, his face inscrutable.

“I was named after the legendary Gimli,” Gimli told them quite unnecessarily. “I am descended from his sister.”

“Gimris. A marvellous woman. Much like her brother.”

“You sailed West with him, did you not?” Ori’s voice was breathless. It figured that shy little Ori would find his pluck when presented with this opportunity.

“I did.” Legolas closed his eyes. Experience told Nori that this was a sign of great pain. “And yes, then I came back. Alone.”

“And …”

“I really don’t remember anything about the Undying Lands. One moment I was on the boat with Gimli, his white beard blowing in the breeze, the next I found myself in a boat going the opposite direction, sitting next to my mother who had been dead for centuries.”

“And this concludes this history session,” Rumil decided. “I haven’t thought about that particular time of my life in decades, and I don’t plan to roll this all up now. We’re here to have drinks, and talk about how attractive a certain winner of the games is, ey Nori?”

Nori flipped him off.

“You mean Dwalin?” Ori asked.

“Sure do. I personally don’t go for the type, but your brother here …”

“I know what’s good when I see it.” Nori shrugged. “He’s handsome, ey, Gimli?”

Gimli shrugged. “Not quite enough hair if you ask me.”

“But a butt and biceps to make up for it easily.” Nori grinned and grabbed a soft drink from Bain who had returned. “And I will touch that butt at the Esgaroth vegfest.”

Ori spat out the lemonade he had just drank.


End file.
